obit-fr-elvan-maschmann.jpgWASHINGTON, Mo. - Father Elvan Maschmann OFM, friar-priest of Sacred Heart Province of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) died at age 88 on July 8 at Mark Twain Manor Nursing Home in Bridgeton, Mo.

He was born in Washington, Mo., on Jan. 20, 1920, to Otto W. and Octavia Alfermann Maschmann, receiving at baptism the name Wilbert. He entered the Order of Friars Minor on Aug. 13, 1940, and professed first vows a year and a day later. Having professed solemn vows in 1944, he was ordained a priest on June 20, 1946.

For 41 years of his active ministry - from 1947 to 1988 - he was involved in parochial ministry, always as an assistant or associate pastor or parochial vicar: Sacred Heart, Indianapolis; Holy Name, Memphis; St. Francis Xavier, Petoskey, Mich.; St. Francis Xavier, Superior, Wis.; St. Francis Borgia, Washington, Mo.; Sacred Heart, Eureka, Mo.; and St. George, Hermann, Mo. The last 11 years of active ministry Father Elvan was the chaplain at Villa Gesu in St. Louis, the retirement center for the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

When he retired in 1999, he spent seven years at St. Anthony's Friary in St. Louis where he heard priests' confessions. When his health began to fail, he moved to Our Lady of Angels Friary at Villa West in Sherman. In 2007, having been diagnosed with cancer, he was moved to Mark Twain Manor Nursing Home in Bridgeton.

The funeral Mass was July 11 in his home parish of St. Francis Borgia Church in Washington, Mo. Burial was in the priests' section of the parish cemetery.